MS partners NIIT, IISc, others for cloud computing platform

Software giant Microsoft (MS) today said IT firms NIIT, Cognizant and CDC Software, and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) will build solutions and train manpower based on its cloud computing platform, Windows Azure.

Cloud computing refers Internet-based computing, where applications and software are accessed over the Internet, which results in reduced IT costs.

Microsoft has partnered with IT training firm NIIT, which will train over one lakh students on Windows Azure over the next three years. IT firm Cognizant, on the other hand, will develop solutions based on Azure to help its clients implement, migrate and manage their applications on the cloud.

"India will not only see a surge in consumption of cloud services, driving growth in domestic IT usage, but companies all over the world will look to India to support their transition to cloud computing," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said.

According to a study by research firm Zinnov, the global cloud computing market is expected to cross $70 billion by 2015.

As a result of the growing demand for independent software vendors, developers and system integrators, an additional three lakh jobs related to cloud services are estimated to be created in India over the next five years.

Over 4,000 applications have already been built on the Windows Azure platform by India.

Companies like Wipro, Infosys, TCS, HCL Technologies and Mahindra Satyam are already building applications and solutions across verticals ranging from healthcare, banking to manufacturing for local and global markets.

CDC Software, an enterprise software and services applications provider, also announced the global roll out of its flagship product 'CDC Respond' (a complaint and feedback management application for banking and government sectors) on the Windows Azure platform.

IISc, Bangalore, is building a large-scale application on Windows Azure to study the basic resource allocation constructs and strategies required for addressing enterprise needs on the cloud.